2 Ways To Develop Ideas Using Your Browser Search Bar

2 Ways To Develop Ideas Using Your Browser Search Bar

Doing SEO and blogging for many years (I know it sounds like I am very old! Well, I am not ), I know for sure that the crucial part is NOT in finding as much information as you can.

The most important thing is to learn to organize and use that information.

Therefore various note-taking and information organization tricks are so essential.

Today's two tools I have been happy to discover are unique in two important ways:

They give you almost one-click solution for both note-taking and efficient information organizing.

They are both accessed via your browser search bar (that is the search box with your preferred search engines which you normally see in the top right corner of your browser (FireFox and Internet Explorer)):

Note: both the tools have been tested on FireFox 4 but they should work in Internet Explorer as well.

1. Mind Meister: Your Mind Map

Mind Meister is one of my favorite mind mapping utilities because of good usability and the variety of fun tools. Yes, it is paid, but you may actually never need to start a paid plan because using a DEFAULT map (deleting old ideas and organizing new ones) may turn enough (unless you want to publish every mind map of yours).

Among other built-in tools, there's also one called "Geistesblitz" which allows to quickly insert ideas into your mind map right from your browser search box.

All the "Geistesblitzes" are saved in a separate branch of your default mind map, so you can return to them later to organize more effectively:

2. eLog: Your Web-Based Notepad

eLog is a handy online notepad that lets you easily save your notes while surfing the web.

Jot down whatever comes to mind;

Collect useful websites;

Capture content from any website.

To save a note to your eLog, you will need to do the following:

Install eLog as new search engine to your search box;

Write your note right in the search box and click "Enter"

Here you go! Your note is saved in a matter of a second!

All your notes are stored on one web page " which means you can use Firefoxs CTRL+F Find option to quickly find any note and jump to it.

What about structuring?

The tool gives you an option to break your eLog into sections. These sections are listed in the right-hand panel. To add a new section just name it, and use @ before the name.

Now, imagine how many various opportunities this may open: in keyword brainstorming, for example, you can have a separate section for each of your base term and you can drop new words and phrases to each section whenever any new ideas occurs to you (while researching related content or just looking through your referrals). Here's the simplest example:

Now, hopefully, you have more options to collect and structure your ideas – which almost always means more inspiration as well!